The Band

April Brown is a Los Angeles native, but don’t hold that against her. She also grew up in Bend, OR as well and has been obsessed with Portland since the 90s when she still had eyebrows. April is from a musical family and was born singing. She began singing in church and to this day singing Gospel Blues is her favorite. Her musical influences are pretty ecelectic – The Eagles, Three Dog Night, Sam Cooke, The Beatles, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Jackson, Larry Gatlin, James Taylor, Carol King, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, Faith Hill, Etta James, Sharon Jones, Mavis Staples, Gladys Knight and the list goes on…. April received her B.A. in Theater and was involved in musical theater, comedy troupes, and has sung back-up in several popular LA bands, studied improv at the famous Groundlings Theater and continued singing in church. It was church that brought April together with her SISTER MERCY band mates and where Debby Espinor asked her to front a blues band they were starting. Since being in SISTER MERCY April has been given a platform to fully realize her musical dreams. It is her honor to represent the Cascade Blues Association and the Pacific Northwest in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge for the second time in 2018.

Roger Espinor comes by way of Houston, Texas where he played drums professionally starting at age 17. He was a studio drummer and also played with a national touring band called Big Sweet. He writes most of the original music for Sister Mercy and owns a professional recording studio in Lake Oswego, OR. He played locally for many years with The Rose City Kings, winners of two CBA Muddy Awards for Contemporary Blues Band and Best New Blues Band.

Scott Garcia has been playing guitar since the age of seven, and began performing in local clubs at the age of fifteen. Influenced by early Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chuck Berry, and B.B. King, as well as Carlos Santana, Lynyrd Skynrd and the late great Stevie Ray Vaughn, Scott blends his own unique, soulful, singing and playing styles with April Brown’s magnificant vocals. Over the last thirty five, plus years of performing, Scott and his bands have been fortunate enough to perform with such notables as: Eddie Money, Molly Hatchet, The Tubes, Ronnie Montrose, Doug Clifford of Creedance Clearwater Revival.

Debby Espinor is a native Seattlite, coming to Portland in 2007. She began playing piano at age 8, trained in classical style until age 15 when Jazz and Blues became her love. She has taught K-12 music and co-writes some of Sister Mercy originals. She is influenced by Dr. John, Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner and Nina Simone. She has played with the Seattle-based blues band The Love Doctors, and jazz trio, Rachichi.

John Webb is a native Oregonian that developed a passion for music early on listening to his parents record collection. At the age of 13 John started playing bass guitar and soon after pursued other instruments as well. He has played in several l bands over the years such as The Craig Collins band, The Knuckle Heads,Johnny Vargo Band, Blackjack Creek and the Scott Garcia Band. He enjoys writing and producing music in his home studio.